Sticking to the program

[Octane]

Hi all,

I've been messing about with CCD Commander and automating my little setup.

Last night, after my main target got below 50 degrees, and just before I went to bed, I swung over to the perennial favourite of M8/M20/M21 and did a 30 minute exposure.

It feels good to be in the saddle again.

You can see the crack on my sensor in the bottom left. But, I can see stars behind the crack. I'm not sure what the go is. The camera will be sent to SBIG once I finish my project.

This one had DDP and gamma stretch in MaxIm DL, then, sent to Photoshop for resizing.

SBIG STL-11000M, Takahashi FSQ-106N, Losmandy G11 G
1800sec f/5.0 530.0mm at -20 degrees Celsius

The larger version is here (http://scratch.hqphotography.com.au/m8m20.html).

Feels good to be posting in here, again. :)

Thanks for looking!

H

[gregbradley]

Gorgeous.

Greg.

[cometcatcher]

Awesome! What a pity about the crack.

[RickS]

Good to see you imaging again, H. Hope there is a simple and cheap fix...

[Peter Ward]

Great result :thumbsup:

[loc46south]

Great image - heaps of detail. On the bright side I don't think it is a crack - looks too straight for a stress fracture. It could be something on the chip or maybe something on a filter???

Cheers
Geof Wingham

[Octane]

Thank you, all. :)

Geoff, if you have a look at my thread on the equipment forum, you'll see it's a bit nastier than a filter. :(

H

[Paul Haese]

Looking nice so far H.

[SkyViking]

That's a wonderful view H, it looks very deep and rich. And nice to see your astrophotos coming again.
Given that the black line from the crack is rather thin you may even be able to process it out if you dither your subframes. :thumbsup:

[Octane]

Thank you Paul, and, Rolf!

Rolf, that's what my thinking is at the moment, too. I'm dithering quite strongly between exposures. This will have the added benefit of being able to use the Drizzle implementation of PixInsight. :)

I'm on the program again, tonight. :D

H

[SkyViking]

It is a great tool. I'm currently processing a new deep image and keep getting delayed because I tend to just sit and marvel at my drizzle integrated luminance image with its crisp 6652x5008 resolution :lol::D I love PixInsight.

[Octane]

Looking forward to it. As, always!

Last night, I was unable to get a single useable sub! It was quite windy; which doesn't bode well for 30-minute exposures. *sigh*

Totally loving programming CCD Commander and letting it do the rest. It takes a little while to iron out the quirks (what to do when something fails, such as a plate solve, or focus, etc.,) but, you learn quickly! I'm also thinking that because it's not a completely automated setup, that it doesn't bother me too much if I have to run it attended (remoting in from the laptop tucked up in bed). :)

H

[Star Catcher]

Looking really good H. I would not be worried about dealing with the crack in your program, easily made to seamlessly disappear with a variety of tools.
Ted

[Andy01]

Looking very dramatic indeed :)

[Octane]

Thank you Ted and Andrew!

Yep, Ted, I intend to take very accurate flat frames. I started to last night, but, then, realised that my last focus position was for luminance, and, not hydrogen alpha. My Baader filters aren't parfocal, and, I haven't got around to determining filter offsets, just yet. I've got an issue with my RoboFocus in that FocusMax gives me perfect focus, but, the centre value keeps changing (so, filter offsets will likely not work for now). I think I need to up my duty cycle. But, I am loathe to touch anything at the moment. Will reconfigure everything once it's put on to my pier and after I've finished my current project. :)

Thanks, again, guys.

H

[E_ri_k]

Nice one :thumbsup: Hope the camera is an easy fix! Isn't it great to get out again after a big break :)

Erik

[SimmoW]

very clear, crisp shot, proves you don't need heaps of subs when exposures are so long.

Ha, just cut each corner of the pic off in the same way as the line & we'll hardly notice.

As a beginner I'm loving pixinsight too, it's very quick after awhile. But drizzle, it still confuses me, I would have guessed your cam had small enough pixels. Does it? Or are you saying that the resolution of your lovely FSQ is so high that it'll still benefit from drizzling. If so, I should try it with my E-130D which might have similar resolution.

[troypiggo]

Cracking image.... <groan />

[Octane]

Thanks, guys!

Erik, it's been a very long time since I last properly imaged. It feels good to be indulging in my hobby (moneypit).

Simon, the FSQ is very undersampled, at 3.51" per pixel. It should do rather well with drizzling. You just need to ensure you dither subexposures. My camera has big 9 micron pixels. :)

And, yes, your scope would also be undersampled.

Troy, oh, you very funny guy; that's why I kill you last. :P

H

[multiweb]

Noice! :thumbsup: Good to see you back under the stars.

[David Fitz-Henr]

Looks nice Humayun; at least the crack doesn't appear to have affected focus over the chip. It will be interesting to hear what SBIG find.

[astronobob]

Far out Thats some impressive signal gathering there H, mighty fine work indeed ...